Community Reviews
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ .5 out of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Set in Paris/London in the late 1800’s Lenna Wickes is looking for answers in the unsolved murder of her sister. Knowing her sister was involved with spiritualism and seances, Lenna begins to study the art of mediumship under famed medium Vaudeline D’Allaire, a personal hero for Lenna’s sister. When Vaudeline is called to London to perform a seance of her own to help the London Seance Society solve the murder of their CEO, Lenna joins hoping to kill two birds with one stone to also solve the murder of her sister.
Penner took all the best aspects of the Lost Apothecary (aka the stories set in Victorian-ish era Europe with strong female characters and super dark atmospheric settings) and turned it up a few notches with this one. I loved the spookiness behind the story… and more importantly, I am a big fan of our two main heroines, Lenna and Vaudeline. I loved that they had such starkly opposite approaches to spiritualism (and life, I suppose) and yet they balanced each other out so well.
The only critique I had revolved around the final seance around the major climax of the book. I was kinda taken out of the story a little while reading because parts of that final seance came off as slightly chaotic and a little TOO fantastical/unrealistic for my liking. I totally get that the entire book was leading up to something big, but I personally just felt that, FOR ME, final seance scenes just crossed that uncanny valley.
REGARDLESS — and I may be treading into spoiler territory but, yolo. I am a FAN of unexpected LGBT/WLW storylines and was PLEASANTLY surprised that our two heroines ended up romantically together. (thank you for that lil nugget.)
Final thoughts: if you loved the parts of The Lost Apothecary that took place in the actual Apothecary, you’ll love this one. (Lost Apothecary was my favorite read of 2021 — if that helps sway your decision at all!)
Set in Paris/London in the late 1800’s Lenna Wickes is looking for answers in the unsolved murder of her sister. Knowing her sister was involved with spiritualism and seances, Lenna begins to study the art of mediumship under famed medium Vaudeline D’Allaire, a personal hero for Lenna’s sister. When Vaudeline is called to London to perform a seance of her own to help the London Seance Society solve the murder of their CEO, Lenna joins hoping to kill two birds with one stone to also solve the murder of her sister.
Penner took all the best aspects of the Lost Apothecary (aka the stories set in Victorian-ish era Europe with strong female characters and super dark atmospheric settings) and turned it up a few notches with this one. I loved the spookiness behind the story… and more importantly, I am a big fan of our two main heroines, Lenna and Vaudeline. I loved that they had such starkly opposite approaches to spiritualism (and life, I suppose) and yet they balanced each other out so well.
The only critique I had revolved around the final seance around the major climax of the book. I was kinda taken out of the story a little while reading because parts of that final seance came off as slightly chaotic and a little TOO fantastical/unrealistic for my liking. I totally get that the entire book was leading up to something big, but I personally just felt that, FOR ME, final seance scenes just crossed that uncanny valley.
REGARDLESS — and I may be treading into spoiler territory but, yolo. I am a FAN of unexpected LGBT/WLW storylines and was PLEASANTLY surprised that our two heroines ended up romantically together. (thank you for that lil nugget.)
Final thoughts: if you loved the parts of The Lost Apothecary that took place in the actual Apothecary, you’ll love this one. (Lost Apothecary was my favorite read of 2021 — if that helps sway your decision at all!)
We picked up this book during Independent bookstore day a couple years ago. Sarah read it almost right away and highly recommended it to me. I dragged my feet a little bit though. Two years later I finally got around to reading it. It was well worth the wait.
At its heart it's a murder mystery. But with paranormal dressings around the edges. The two main protagonists are Vaudeline the medium, and Lena her apprentice. Vaudeline uses her skills to talk to the dead in a very specific way. She talks to people who have been murdered or died violent deaths to help solve their murders. Lena on the other hand is a bit of a skeptic but with natural talent. She is trying to find out what happened to her sister. And she's hoping that Vaudeline can help her. And of course things just get complicated from there. The central mystery grows in scope and even though I'm not a frequent mystery reader I did like the way it played out, I enjoyed the twists and the reveals.
But I think the real joy in this book is those two main characters as they get to know each other and as we the reader get to know them.
I will say even though this book isn't a spicy book or even necessarily a romance. It had one of my favorite recent sapphic steamy scenes. It wasn't even explicit. It was more of a tension banter atmosphere foreplay sort of moment. I don't even know the right book term. But it was insanely good.
I'll just say the broom closet scene. If you know you know.
Overall I really enjoyed the book. I like the writing style I like the pacing of the story I like the general atmosphere and vibe. And I enjoyed the characters. It had a nice resolution to it, and the ending was satisfying. It was just a really fun book to read.
I am both glad and grateful that Sarah recommended it to me. If you do any sort of seasonal type readings it would be a great fall or Halloween read.
At its heart it's a murder mystery. But with paranormal dressings around the edges. The two main protagonists are Vaudeline the medium, and Lena her apprentice. Vaudeline uses her skills to talk to the dead in a very specific way. She talks to people who have been murdered or died violent deaths to help solve their murders. Lena on the other hand is a bit of a skeptic but with natural talent. She is trying to find out what happened to her sister. And she's hoping that Vaudeline can help her. And of course things just get complicated from there. The central mystery grows in scope and even though I'm not a frequent mystery reader I did like the way it played out, I enjoyed the twists and the reveals.
But I think the real joy in this book is those two main characters as they get to know each other and as we the reader get to know them.
I will say even though this book isn't a spicy book or even necessarily a romance. It had one of my favorite recent sapphic steamy scenes. It wasn't even explicit. It was more of a tension banter atmosphere foreplay sort of moment. I don't even know the right book term. But it was insanely good.
I'll just say the broom closet scene. If you know you know.
Overall I really enjoyed the book. I like the writing style I like the pacing of the story I like the general atmosphere and vibe. And I enjoyed the characters. It had a nice resolution to it, and the ending was satisfying. It was just a really fun book to read.
I am both glad and grateful that Sarah recommended it to me. If you do any sort of seasonal type readings it would be a great fall or Halloween read.
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